The spark in the woods
by meliecom
Summary: When Andy got up that morning, she never thought her day was going to go like this; her and Sam ending up stuck in a cabin in the middle of the woods... But sometimes life throws us a curveball, and sometimes it throws us a snow storm. You just need to learn how to make the most of it. - Set between season 1 and 2.


_Well hello there! It's been a looooong time since I posted anything! I'm sorry, I'm AWFULLY busy with university classes and work and studying and just like aaaaah! So writing comes last, sadly… _

_Last week I got the chance to spend the whole week at my cabin (with my parents and my boyfriend it was heavenly!) deep in the woods. That meant no work, no school, no tv, no phone, no electricity, etc. But that also meant I had some time to WRITE! So there it is. I got a little inspired by the weather that night I guess and so this story happened. It's set between season one and season two. _

_Last but not least, I have to thank my amazing Stacy! As always! It felt just like the good old days getting to work on that story with you! You know I've missed it!_

_So here we go…_

* * *

><p>When Andy got up that morning, she never thought her day was going to go like this. She was supposed to have a quiet day; a small day at the desk, filling paperwork and answering phone calls. But that's not how life decided it would go.<p>

It all started when Gail didn't show up to work, she called 15 minutes before her shift started and said that she was sick and couldn't work. Andy was in the locker room when Noelle came to talk to her before parade.

"Hey Andy, how are you doing today?" She asked as the younger woman was closing her locker door.

"I'm fine, thanks, is everything okay?" Andy asked her, knowing that for Noelle to come and talk to her like that there had to be something wrong.

"Actually, not really, Gail just called and she can't make it in today. She was scheduled to transport a prisoner to Sudbury with Swarek and you're the lucky one who's getting the chance to replace her." She dropped, consciously knowing that it wouldn't be the highlight of the young cop's day.

"Really? There's no one else who could do it? I hate prisoner transfers. You're stuck in the car with them for hours, they keep tal…" Andy tried, but Noelle interrupted her, raising her hand to make McNally stop her lamentations.

"I know, I hate prisoner transfers too, but you're still doing it." The older cop told her on a tone that left no place for argumentation.

Andy opened her mouth to say something, but Noelle was already gone and she let herself drop to the bench in front of her. That day was definitely off to a bad start.

It had been a few months now since her last prisoner transfer, which, she had to say, ended up being a fiasco. Sam and she had their good moments since then, like when they went undercover, but even if they were good partners, they weren't the best friends ever and Andy kind of dreaded spending all that time in the car with him.

Plus, the memory of his lips over hers while they were undercover was still too much present for her to act casually around him. She knew it wouldn't take a lot for her to fall for the guy who had been her training officer, and that was definitely a very bad idea.

She shook her head, erasing those thoughts from her head, it's not like she had a choice; she was going to spend the day with him, whether she liked it or not. Pulling her hair up in a bun, she looked at her reflection in the mirror one last time before getting out of the locker room, making her way to parade.

Boyko made it short and clear, ending his speech with his usual 'serve, protect and have your partner's back'. Sighing, Andy made her way to the cruiser, getting there as Sam settled the prisoner in the back of the car. She didn't look at them and took place in the passenger seat as her partner made his way around the car before sitting to her left.

"Ready to go?" Sam asked in a neutral tone.

"As ready as it gets." Andy simply replied as Sam started the engine, making his way out of the precinct and onto the streets of Toronto.

The radio was playing in the background, the weather woman giving the previsions for the day in a monotonous voice.

_Today in Toronto we're forecasting a low down to -23 Celsius with the temperatures warming up to -15 in the afternoon. The third big snow storm of the month is expected to hit the Toronto area in the afternoon with winds blowing up to 55km per hour and between 20 and 30 centimeters of snow that will start to fall around noon until late in the night. People should stay ind…_

The voice was silenced as Sam hit the volume button, the car was suddenly so quiet that Andy could hear her own thoughts running through her head.

"Aren't you scared of being caught in the storm?" The prisoner asked from the back of the car, talking about what the weather girl had just announced.

"The only thing that scares me is that my partner over here lets you go and that I have to run after a prisoner in the woods again." Sam said, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

Andy opened my mouth to defend herself but the prisoner was faster than her.

"She did that? Well maybe today is my lucky day then." He said with a look to the woman sitting in the passenger seat.

"Okay, first it wasn't really my fault, it never would've happened if you had gone to the bathroom when we stopped. Second, I was a rookie then, I'm NOT anymore. So no, this won't be your lucky day." Andy said bitterly as Sam laughed under his breath.

She knew he was just joking and that she shouldn't take it seriously so she didn't add anything more.

"Oh well, I can always dream right?" The prisoner said again, laughing.

"Just shut up." Andy told him, turning to face the window as Sam smiled a little, turning his attention to the road in front of him.

It was nearly 3pm when they got to Sudbury. They had left Toronto at 9am, but the road conditions had deteriorated in the afternoon, and they arrived late at the prison. The transfer and the paperwork took half an hour, and they were back in the car at 3:35pm.

The conditions were getting worse than on the drive to Sudbury, but Sam was determined to go back to Toronto that night.

"You sure it wouldn't be a better idea to stay here for the night?" Andy asked. "The roads were already bad when we got here, maybe it's not the best idea to go back now."

"Andy, it's not even 4pm yet, what do you want us to do? Stay in a motel until tomorrow morning? Come on, we have all the time in the world to get back to Toronto and I'm sleeping in my own bed tonight." He said optimistically as he took the road going to the highway.

Andy didn't answer, that was totally a guy thing, just as last time when he waited until the last minute to fill up the gas tank. She just looked out the window, hoping that the conditions weren't going to worsen even more or they would never get to Toronto that night.

About 3h later, it was getting clear that the right thing to do would've been to stay in Sudbury. The road was now only half plowed and visibility was almost inexistent. The snow was falling almost horizontally now.

"I hate to say it McNally, but maybe you were right." Sam said on a serious voice after yet another blow from the wind made the car shake.

Andy looked at him but didn't say anything. If even he was starting to worry she knew that it wasn't a good sign. They were pretty much stuck in the middle of nowhere and there wasn't a lot they could do now.

"I'm guessing saying 'I told you so' won't help right?" She finally said, turning to look at him with a small smile. He forced a smile back to her even as he kept his eyes to the road that was almost inexistent in front of him.

The clock in the dash was showing 6:30pm and they weren't even halfway to Toronto. The other half was going to be even longer considering that the conditions were worsening every minute now.

"I'm suggesting we take the next exit and try to find a hotel, motel or somewhere to spend the night until this storms blows away." Sam said as he shot a quick look to McNally sitting at his right hand side.

She shook her head, looking a bit discouraged. "I know where we are, one of my dad's friends has a cabin here and we went a few years back. There's not a lot actually. If I remember correctly, there's one cheap motel about 10km from the next exit, but that's about it." She told him, trying to remember the trip they took when she was 17.

"A cheap motel is better than spending the night in the car." He said, trying to sound optimistic.

She nodded, they just had to get there now. Even if 10km wasn't usually that long, she knew that in this storm, it wouldn't be that easy.

Sam took the next exit very slowly, it looked like it hadn't been plowed since it started snowing and there was a good 10cm on the ground. The road ahead of them wasn't a lot better, but at least the wind had blown out some of the snow so they could see the ground.

They were about 3 kilometers out of the highway when the right tire of the patrol car hit an ice patch. Combined with the wind and the poor conditions, it was too much for Sam, as good a driver as he was, to keep the car on the road and it made a 180 degrees turn before plunging in the snow on the other side of the road.

Battling with the airbags, Sam shot a look to Andy. "You okay?" He asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She told him, rubbing her head where it had hit the side of the door. She looked around them. There was absolutely no hope of getting the car out of there without help, it was stuck in the snow that was covering half of the front doors and all of the front window. It was the middle of January and there was already over a meter of snow on the ground.

Sam tried starting back the car, but when he turned the key in the ignition nothing happened. "Okay, well that's not going to happen." He said, looking back at his partner.

"What do we do now?" Andy asked, fumbling through her pockets to find her cellphone.

"We can call someone and ask them to come and get us?" Tried Sam when Andy finally found her phone.

"It would've been a good idea if we weren't stuck in the storm in the middle of nowhere." She said, shooting a look at Sam that clearly meant his idea was stupid.

He didn't answer, and she sighed. "Sorry, I'm on edge. My phone is dead anyway." She told him.

"Okay well we can always walk to the motel." Sam said, trying to find a solution, but McNally looked at him like he was a bit crazy.

"Have you ever tried walking 7km in that weather?" Andy asked, thinking it was almost funny that he would suggest that. They would be frozen way before they even got close to the motel.

"I told you McNally, I'm a city boy, I don't do good in the woods." He replied. "What do you suggest? We can't really spend the night here either."

"I know." Andy sighed. She was trying to think about a solution, but the only one she could think about wasn't really better than walking to the motel. "I have an idea, but it's not a lot better than walking." She finally told him, shivering from the cold that was already filling the patrol car.

"It looks like we don't have a lot of ideas to choose from McNally." Sam said, looking at her insistently.

His eyes made her shiver, not from cold that time, and she turned away, looking at her surroundings.

"Well, the cabin I was telling you about is near here. Well I'm pretty sure it's only a kilometer that way." She said, pointing the road from where they were coming.

"You're sure, or you're only pretty sure? Because it can change a lot of things." Sam said, not really confident that it was the best idea they got.

"You can't ask me too much, Sam, I've been here when I was 17. I think it wasn't far from here, but I can't guarantee you it's not a kilometer and a half instead of only one." She told him, not really knowing what else they could do.

"Okay, well I guess that's the best idea we have right?" He asked her, already knowing what was going to be the answer.

"Pretty much yes." She replied, trying to figure out if there was another solution, but she couldn't think of any right now.

"Let's do this then." Sam said, zipping his coat up to his chin, grabbing the hat he kept in the glove compartment.

Nodding, Andy zipped her coat, pulling on her hood for it to rest on her head, and put her gloves on. She then tried to open the door to her right, but it was so stuck in the snow that she couldn't open it more than an inch. Sam's door wasn't stuck as bad, and he was finally able to get it open. He gave his hand to Andy so she could hop over his seat and outside of the car.

The cold air of January hit them as they finally climbed out of the car and on the road. Andy zipped her coat a bit more, trying to fight off the cold wind of January. Deciding not to scream to get over the storm, Andy grabbed the arm of Sam and simply pointed him the right way.

Nodding, Sam started to walk in the good direction, fighting against the wind and the snow that were falling all around them. How could he be stupid enough to keep driving for that long? He should've just listened to her and stopped when she asked. Sam Swarek didn't fear a lot of thing, and there weren't a lot of people who knew that, but one of the things he feared a lot was that Andy would get hurt. Although, he never thought that it would be his fault if she did.

He shot a look to the woman beside him, she was doing okay for now, but he would never forgive himself if something happened to her by his fault. At least, since they were almost in the forest, the wind wasn't as strong as it was on the highway, and the temperature had warmed up since this morning.

About 20 minutes after they started walking, Andy pointed to a small path in the woods at the right of the road they were on. The snow was higher in the forest and Andy was starting to feel like her legs, that she was trying to raise high enough to walk, were heavy as cement. She didn't calculate the next step correctly and she fell in the snow on all fours, the cold and wet mix getting in her coat as she tried to get up.

Not even 5 seconds later Sam was by her side, grabbing her arm so she would be able to get up easily.

"Are you okay?" He ask, trying not to look too worried.

She nodded and smiled a little. "I'm good. We shouldn't be far now anyway." She told him as she looked in front of them. The path was curbing and she was pretty sure that on the other side there was the cabin.

Sam never let go of her arm as they made their way through the woods. The forest was deeper here and it was blocking almost all of the wind, it would've been way easier than on the street if it hadn't been from the fact that there was about a foot of snow to walk in.

When they finally took the curve and saw the small house sitting in the middle of the tree Sam was so relieved he could've screamed. He knew that the small legs of his partner wouldn't keep this up much longer before they decided that they didn't want to move anymore.

Crossing the last hundred meters that were separating them from the cabin, Sam looked around. There wasn't much to look at though; they were alone in the woods. He had to say the wooden cabin looked pretty nice, sitting in the small clearing, snow falling all around it.

Andy let go of Sam's arm when she climbed up the stairs, going straight to the right side of the cabin, pushing the snow out of a chair so she could get up on it.

Looking at her from the door, Sam was wondering what she was doing. He was ready to break the door's window with his baton when she came back from the end of the house a key in her right hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked, her eyes moving from Sam's face to the baton he was holding in his arm.

"How the hell did you get this key?" He asked back, not even bothering to answer the question she had just asked him.

"I told you I've been here. He always leaves the key here so that if someone is stuck here, like us, they don't have to break a window to get in." She told him motioning his hand then making her way to unlock the door.

She got inside first, followed almost instantly by Sam who closed the door behind him. The cabin wasn't warm, but at least they were hidden from the wind. Andy took off her hood and took a look around the living room.

"It's just like I remember it to be." She told Sam, making her way to the kitchen as she started opening the drawers visibly looking for something.

Sam took off his hat, looking around the room he was in. It was a big square, probably around 24 foot wide and 24 foot deep. A door was on his left and a staircase just in front of the door was climbing up to the second story. A few paintings and engravings were on the walls, all representing cabins or nature.

"There!" Andy spoke loudly, stopping Sam's contemplation of a painting of a small house that was hanged on the wall behind him. He turned to look at her.

She was standing in the middle of the kitchen holding a pack of matches. "Can you go through the door at your left and get me some wood to start a fire?" Andy asked him as she continued looking around the room.

Following her instructions, Sam opened the door at the left of the entrance and ended up in a small garage, wood was piled up against the wall. Choosing a few small scraps of wood and a couple of logs, he went back inside, closing the door behind him.

Andy was kneeling in front of the woodstove and he could see that there was already some journal paper and some cardboard inside of it. He handed her the small scraps of wood and she thanked him, putting them on top of the cardboard before she cracked a match. She lit up the paper underneath and blew a little on it so it would light up the cardboard.

A couple of minutes later, a small fire was burning and diffusing a nice warmth to the two adults. Andy smiled at Sam who was staring at her not even a meter away.

"What?" She asked. He was looking at her like he was seeing her for the first time and it made her shiver as she got lost in the deep brown of his eyes for a few seconds.

"You weren't kidding McNally when you said you were used to go camping." He simply said, pointing to the fire that she lit in about three minutes.

"Really Sam, it's not that hard to light a fire, I bet even you can do it!" She said, as she couldn't refrain a smile, taking it as a compliment.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure I never lit a fire of my life." Sam confessed.

"What? That can't be true. You have a fireplace at your place and you're going to tell me you never used it?" Andy asked him, not believing even for a second that he never did.

"I think Oliver might have lit one up a couple of years back, but I never did." He answered, looking at the fire that was growing bigger as Andy put in one of the two logs he brought.

"That's a shame, if I had a fireplace I would use it all the time." She said, still busy putting the second log inside the fire.

He shrugged. "Well you can always come to my place and light one up if you want." He said, looking at her. She was so beautiful in the dancing yellow light and he could see her cheek pink up even if she didn't turn to look at him.

She finally turned her attention from the fire and plunged her eyes into his. The way he was looking at her made her heart beat faster and she longed to tell him that she would gladly take him up on that invitation any time. Her mind already travelling to the sight of both of them cuddling on the couch, a fire burning in the fireplace in front of them.

Another face appeared in her mind as she thought about it and it made her almost jump from her kneeling position. Why was she daydreaming about cuddling with Swarek when she was dating Callaghan? She asked herself as she went to the kitchen, opening the drawers again. Maybe because there was absolutely no chance of Callaghan cuddling by the fire with her, said a little voice in her head.

She sighed, the detective was always working these days and it seemed like it had been forever since they spent an evening together. He couldn't really complain that she was dreaming about something more than what he was offering her. Plus, she had never witnessed Luke look at her the way Sam did sometimes; just like if she was the most beautiful thing in the world. Sometimes Andy wondered if she was just seeing things, but then he would look at her again and her heart would melt.

Opening another drawer she finally found what she was looking for. Grabbing a big pan, she turned to Sam with a big smile in her face.

"Hungry?" She asked as she looked at her partner who was still sitting in front of the fire.

"Always." He said, smiling back to her.

Andy zipped back her coat and went through the door still carrying her pan. Sam didn't have a lot of time to wonder what she was going to do with the pan because she was back inside not even a minute later with a pan full of snow. Sam raised an eyebrow, wondering what she would do with that snow.

She put it on the top of the woodstove before turning to answer his silent question. "I'm going to melt us some water and make us some soup." She told him, climbing the first few steps up to close the door that was leading to the second story.

"We need to keep the warmth here." She explained. "If we leave that door open, the warm air is going to go up there and it will be impossible to warm up this room."

Sam nodded, understanding what she was explaining. Andy came back down and pulled a chair to sit in front of the fire. He joined her a couple of minutes later, pulling his own chair. They just sat there, watching the fire as the snow melted in the pan, then boiled.

She waited 10 minutes after it started boiling, then transferred some of the water to a smaller pan before adding some chicken base and some noodles to the one that was still on the woodstove. She put the smaller recipient outside for it to cool.

"There, it won't be perfect, but at least we're going to have something to eat tonight." She said, going back to the kitchen.

She went through the cupboards and found a pack of Ritz cracker and two granola bars before making her way back to Sam.

"I found us some crackers and even some desert." Andy told him, settling her precious provisions on her chair before she went back to get some bowls and two spoons.

"It looks like you've done this plenty of times." Sam said as he watched her get everything ready.

"Yeah well, it's not the first time I've been in the woods like I said." Andy replied with a wink.

After pouring some soup into the bowls, she went back outside to get the water she had put there to cool down. She came back inside, filling two glasses with the now chilled water.

They ate their improvised dinner as snow continued to fall outside like it had decided to cover the whole world. The cabin was starting to warm up as the fire kept burning high, Andy putting in more wood, making sure that it wouldn't die.

Sam had taken off his coat and couldn't help but watch Andy as she sat on the ground, watching the fire, the flame reflecting in her sparkling eyes. Her hair was messy because of the hood she wore earlier, and her cheeks were red from the warmth of the fire. She had a smile that told Sam she once loved doing this and that she missed being out of the city like they were right now.

As he looked at her, he couldn't help but think she was the most beautiful woman he had ever met.

"I have to admit it's not that bad." Sam said as she turned to look at him.

"I know I probably shouldn't, but I still love it." She told him, sitting back on her chair now that the fire was good to go on its own for long time.

They stayed like this, looking at the fire that was crackling in the woodstove. Since they had started it, the temperature had gone up from -10 to 5 degrees Celsius and the air was now smelling of this characteristic wood burning smell Andy always loved.

"I used to go camping a lot with my dad when we were young." She started, still looking at the flames. "He loved it as much as I did, and so one day we bought a cabin just like this one. There was a time we would go up there almost every weekend. Those were the good days. My dad wasn't obsessed with his job and with the bottle at that time." She snorted, her smile fading a bit.

Sam who never stopped looking at her nodded, not saying a word. He knew he didn't have to, she didn't need him to say anything, just to listen.

"When he started drinking, nothing was the same anymore." She continued with a sigh. "He would go up to the cabin alone, often left me at home so that he could get drunk all weekend. I remember wondering if he would come home or if he would've forgotten to close the grid of the fire in his drunken state and burned down the whole place down." She said, shaking her head as she remembered those times.

"I'm sorry McNally. Andy…" Sam simply said, putting his hand over her arm that was resting on her lap.

"He always came home, but it was never the same anymore. One day he just sold it, claiming that he didn't have the time to go anymore." She shrugged, smiling softly to Sam who was still resting his hand on her arm. "The last time I was out of the city was here, I actually have good memories about that trip." She said, not counting the time Callaghan brought her to his fishing cabin; that trip only lasted a day and she didn't really want to remember those days.

Sam gave a squeeze to her arm before taking his hand back, promising himself that he would make a point of taking her out of the city more often, even if he was definitely more a city boy.

"Anyway." Andy said, trying to smile again. "Maybe we should think about sleeping. It's 10pm and I'm pretty sure the snow won't stop falling before tomorrow so we're stuck here." She told him.

"Yeah you're probably right. I hope they're not too worried at the station." Sam replied, wishing that he hadn't forgot his cellphone in his locker today. At least that way they could've given them some news.

"Don't worry, they know I won't let you freeze to death." Andy said with a smile.

She got up from her chair and walked to what Sam first thought was a big cupboard when he entered the room. Andy grabbed the handles and pulled them down, revealing that it wasn't a cupboard but a hidden bed.

"So there's one bed here and the others are upstairs, but it's probably still freezing up there." Andy said as she turned down the blankets so they would warm up with the fire. "Either we share it or someone goes up there." She continued when she finished working on the sheets.

"It's a big bed." Sam said.

"Yeah, and you're scared you're going to freeze." She teased him. "Give me a second I'll get something from upstairs." She told him before disappearing behind the door to the second story.

When she got down a few minutes later she was wearing a white pyjama pants with red reindeers on it and a red top. She had a blue plaid pajama pants and a dark blue top in her hands.

"I was right, it's really freezing." She said, throwing Sam the clothes she had in her hands.

"What are you wearing McNally?" Sam asked with a small laugh in the voice.

"What? You didn't expect me to sleep in my uniform did you?" Andy replied matter-of-factly. "I just remembered those are always in the drawers upstairs, in case someone forgets them. I thought it could be practical." She finally explained.

Leaving Sam some privacy to change, she went to the garage to get some wood for the fire. When she came back with a whole box of wood, her partner had changed into the pajamas she had given him and she had to admit he looked good.

"Happy McNally?" He asked, not really sure of what to think about the clothes. Yes it was probably way more comfortable that his uniform, but he wasn't used to walking around in flannel pjs.

"Absolutely. They look good on you." She said dropping her heavy box near the fire. "There, that way we won't freeze." She told him, taking off the grid of the woodstove to put some more logs in the fire before closing the door and putting it on the low mode so that it would burn slower but keep them warm all night.

"Looks like you've got it all under control." Sam replied, going around the bed to take the left side of it.

"Yup, now let's just hope that the snow will have stopped tomorrow so that we can go get help." She said on a hopeful tone.

Nodding, Sam slid under the blankets as McNally took the other side, joining him a couple of minutes later. He had to admit he had wanted to sleep with her since the night she came to his place the night of the blackout. Their time undercover just made him want it even more. Although he never thought that they would end up in the same bed in the middle of the woods, hiding from a storm that had caused them to get run off the road.

When they were sitting by the fire, they hadn't felt the cold, but the bed was on the other side of the room, and it was colder there. Shivering, McNally pulled the blankets up, she was freezing even if she didn't want to admit it. She could feel the warmth of her partner's body not far away from hers and she dreamt of cuddling in it so that she would stop shaking.

On the other side of the bed, Sam could feel her tremble and he knew he wouldn't resist much longer to his heart that kept telling him to go and warm her up. After all, who would blame them? They were stranded in the middle of the woods, the temperature in the cabin wasn't even 10 degrees, they had to walk over a kilometer in terrible conditions and eat some dinner made from melted snow. Obviously, it wasn't a usual situation.

Finally deciding that it was enough of watching her shiver, Sam crossed the space that separated them. He slipped an arm around her, pulling the young woman close to him as he felt her almost immediately stop shivering.

"Sam…" She said, protesting vainly because her whole body longed for the warmth and comfort her partner was providing.

"Hey there McNally. I don't want to wake up next to an ice cube in the morning. That's what I'm good at. Maybe I can't start a fire from scratch or create some diner in a few minutes, but you can at least let me warm you up." He said only holding her closer.

"If you put it that way." She replied, deciding that he was right and that she would never be able to sleep freezing like she had been before.

"Just close your eyes and sleep." He whispered, his mouth so close to her ear that she could feel his warm breath on her skin and it made her shiver. He pulled the blanket higher and held her even closer to him, thinking that it was the cold and not his presence that was making her shiver.

"We can't let the fire die down." Andy started, she had filled the woodstove but they would probably have to put some logs back in it at around 2am.

"I'll take care of it don't worry. Just sleep." Sam told her and she nodded, finally closing her eyes.

It didn't take long for Andy to fall asleep. Before the darkness fell upon her, she thought to herself that she had never felt so protected and safe in her whole life, and she wondered why she had always thought that Luke was the better choice for her. Lying here in Sam's arms, she just wished she had realized that earlier. Sam was the good guy for her, he was one of the most passionate, caring and thoughtful person she knew, and he would never let her down. She would have to tell Luke that they couldn't keep this up when she came back.

Sam didn't fall asleep as fast as Andy. He was too busy breathing in the moment; holding the young woman between his arms was something he had longed to do for so long. She wasn't the first woman he slept in the same bed with, but somehow this was different. Even in the aftermaths of sex, Sam had never felt like that with the other women he had known.

Cuddling in the cold air of the cabin, Sam felt closer to Andy that he had to anyone else before. How cruel was it that she was the only one that he couldn't hope to get. Sighing, he hid his face in the crook of her neck, breathing in the floral smell of her hair. He knew he wouldn't get to do that again and he wanted to engrave this moment in his head.

He finally fell asleep and woke up only a couple of hours later. The fire was dying and he got up silently, trying not to wake her but the change of temperature in the bed was too much and Andy opened her eyes to see Sam kneeling by the fire. She smiled, thinking that she wouldn't mind spending the rest of her life like this. Her eyes closed slowly, sleep taking back over her body.

When Sam turned back to look at her she was sleeping. A soft smile was resting on her face, the fire lighting her face with dancing yellow light. He couldn't help but smile too. Walking closer to her, he pushed back a strand of hair that was resting on her cheek. He laid a butterfly kiss on her forehead before going back to his side of the bed.

Slipping under the blankets, Sam went back to Andy, resting his arm around her before cuddling even closer. He was still smiling when he fell asleep. Because even after all that had happened today, he wouldn't change a thing. There wasn't a place in the whole world where he'd rather be right now than here, in the quiet, cold air of January, holding the young woman he loved in his arms…

* * *

><p><em>I really hope I haven't lost all my ability to write RB fanfiction and that you liked this small story. If you did, just leave a review! If you didn't well… Leave a review anyway! Constructive criticism is always good! I hope I will get some more time to write, but since next semester looks like it's gonna be a crazy crazy one, I'm not sure I will… But I'm not giving up on writing… Surely not!<em>


End file.
